California State University, Fullerton and UiPath Host Inaugural Course on RPA

Download as PDF

Through UiPath’s Academic Alliance, the Department of Accounting at Mihaylo College of Business and Economics educates students on how RPA can be applied to accounting functions to enhance operational performance

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- UiPath, the leading robotic process automation (RPA) software company, today announced California State University (CSU), Fullerton as its first university partner to have completed a course on RPA through the company’s Academic Alliance initiative. Offered to graduate students in Accounting and enrolled in the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, the course explored how RPA can be applied to the field of accounting to drive efficiencies, improve customer service and bolster overall business performance.

Spearheaded in January 2019 by CSU, Fullerton Accounting Professors Vivek Mande and April Morris, the course curriculum was designed to provide students with the skills needed to successfully introduce, deploy and manage RPA solutions. CSU Fullerton’s Department of Accounting is separately accredited and its curriculum embeds leading-edge technology such as UiPath. Featuring presentations and demonstrations from UiPath, as well as representatives from the Big Four accounting firms including EY and PwC, the course highlighted real-world examples of how RPA is being applied across various accounting functions. These functions include accumulating and scraping data for conversion rates, automating certain tax functions and automating consolidations. Students in the class actually wrote their own personal robot to help with daily tasks.

“Our accounting curriculum is evolving into a world-class, tech-forward, real-world experience-based model,” said Morris, professor of Accounting: Data Analytics and Robotics. “Automation is no longer the future, it is the ‘now’. Finding accounting programs that offer students this type of concentrated immersion into leading-edge technologies that use real-world data is difficult. Our graduates are developing skills that will set them apart from the rest. We have taken steps to involve our stakeholders, such as the Big Four, in developing a laser-focused curriculum that responds to the fast-changing business and technology world. UiPath was a name that was consistently mentioned by our stakeholders, so we built a curriculum based on their technology.”

“Robotic process automation is being used by EY and companies worldwide for a multitude of business processes. It is critical that students are introduced to technologies such as this early on so they’re prepared for the Transformative Age we’re living in and the future of work,” added Jon Smith, partner at Ernst & Young LLP.

UiPath works with universities like CSU, Fullerton as part of its Academic Alliance program. This program, created to empower all people to access and best leverage available automation solutions, consists of a Higher Education track that equips students with critical automation skills and unites them with engaged employer networks to best understand how RPA can be leveraged in business settings.

“This course has opened my eyes to how much better operations can be run with RPA,” said Yang Xu, MBA student. “Having had the opportunity to build my own software robot, I feel confident in my ability to not only use RPA, but also scale it across an organization. My familiarity with RPA is definitely something that I will be adding to my résumé.”

Building on the success of its inaugural RPA course at the graduate level, CSU, Fullerton is planning a course for undergraduate students for Spring 2020. “We recognize that successful accounting professionals will be leaders in the use of advanced technologies and analytics,” added Dr. Vivek Mande.

“CSU, Fullerton through their accounting program, are leaders in technology education,” said Tom Clancy, Senior Vice President of UiPath Learning. “We are very proud of the work we’ve done with them to help their students prepare for – and usher in – better, smarter and faster ways of working. They set a fantastic example, and we are eager to see other universities offer similar courses on RPA as we get deeper into the automation first era.”

For more information, visit the Academic Alliance webpage.

About Mihaylo College of Business and Economics
Located in one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial business communities in the United States, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton is the largest accredited business school on the West Coast, nationally recognized for accreditation in both its business and accounting programs.

About UiPath
UiPath is leading the “automation first” era – championing one robot for every person, delivering free and open training and collaboration and enabling robots to learn new skills through AI and machine learning. Led by a commitment to bring digital era skills to more than a million people, the company’s enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform has already automated millions of repetitive, mind-numbing tasks for business and government organizations all over the world, improving productivity, customer experience and employee job satisfaction.

Recently named by Comparably as the 6th happiest place to work and the 11th best company culture among large businesses, UiPath is one of the fastest growing and highest-valued AI enterprise software companies worldwide.

Toni Iafrate
UiPath
toni.iafrate@uipath.com
978-239-5499

Source: UiPath

Released June 11, 2019